Wednesday 1st April, 18.00, Arundel Cathedral, BN18 9AY. People from across our diocesan family of faith are invited to join Bishop Gerard Bradley and members of clergy at the annual Chrism Mass – one of the most beautiful Masses of the year, celebrated in Catholic cathedrals across the world in Holy Week. All are welcome

On Passion (Palm) Sunday, we hear two Gospel readings. The first tells us of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The second is the full Passion account. In between are readings from Isaiah and Philippians, reminding us of Jesus’ humility and willingness to be the suffering servant of God. The combination of scriptures moves us from rejoicing and praising Jesus along with the people waving their palms on the roadside to the disturbing events that lead to his arrest, trial, and death. These scripture passages are an emotional roller coaster ride. The entire Passion story is difficult to read and hear because it is challenging to be with people who are in pain, especially when they are people we know and love. Even if we have the desire to stay present and remain loyal, Peter, James, and John remind us that sometimes the pain is just too great and we escape from it. Jesus’ three friends escaped the discomfort of being with Jesus in his agony by sleeping. Others of us avoid pain in other ways, perhaps with food, alcohol or drugs, exercise, forms of entertainment or technology use, overworking, etc. Sometimes our escape is simply by finding reasons not to spend time with the person in pain. St. Ignatius wrote a program of prayer called The Spiritual Exercises. He urges all those who are praying the Exercises to stay present to Jesus during his Passion. He suggests that we allow ourselves to feel the agony, sorrow, and distress as much as we can, to remain with Jesus, and watch with him as he asked his friends to do in the Garden of Gethsemane.  We cannot be physically present to Jesus in his suffering now, but surely there are people in our lives who are suffering with whom we can remain awake. It might be a form of agony for us to watch and to share in another’s pain, but when we do it for others, we do it for Jesus. Questions of the week Think about an experience you have had of being with someone in their pain: physical or otherwise. Did you have any urge to run away or escape it? Think of someone in your life now who is suffering. How might you make yourself available so that person will know he or she is not alone?

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . Really very busy this week as preparations for Holy Week start running full-tilt around The Presbytery . . . . Last Saturday morning Fr D celebrated a Lenten Reconciliation Service for Primary school aged children; this was also a ‘second bite at the cherry’ for those who are preparing to receive their First Eucharist in June. After the children’s service Fr D was meeting with a young couple who will be getting married in Ireland at the end of May to complete their formal marriage preparation. All parishioners are reminded that the diocese requires a minimum notice of twelve months before the date of marriage for adequate preparation to be completed. After Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday Fr D was meeting with a parishioner who will be Received Into Full Communion with the Church alongside her daughter being baptised at our Easter Vigil next Saturday. In the afternoon he was off down to Shoreham to attend a Governors meetings for a Primary School which is part of the BOSCO Catholic Education Trust - this is a school that Fr D was a governor for until he was asked by the bishop to help form the BOSCO Trust. Following Morning Prayer and Mass on Wednesday Fr D was upstairs in the Parish Office to meet the independent auditors the diocese uses to test a sample of parishes each year. Sacred Heart has cropped up twice in the six and a half years that Fr D has been in Cobham. When all the tests are completed around the diocese there is normally a report back to the test parishes. Fr D thinks that we are travelling in the right direction on hearing from the auditor that what normally takes about five hours in other parishes was achieved in one and a half hours, that we run a ‘tight ship!’ Thursday after celebrating Morning Prayer and Mass Fr D went off down to the diocesan offices in Crawley wearing his ‘other hat’ as a canon lawyer. He now has four cases awaiting his judgement (one and a half of which are now ready to be judged, probably around mid April). Whilst in the office he dropped off the marriage papers he’d prepared for Ireland - these now go out to the diocese in Ireland and finally to the parish where the couple are getting married.  After celebrating Morning Prayer and Mass on Friday Fr D passed on the work he had done on the newsletter to Sarah for her bits to be added. Later in the morning we had the last stations and soup lunch of Lent . . . .